Day 14 & 15

Left Rome fairly early this morning for our bus trip to the Cinque Terre which is a group of 5 Italian coastal towns.  It will take us about 6 hours driving so we have planned to stop in another hill town for lunch.

We stopped in Montepulciano, Italy for lunch and hiked up through the main street of town.  Karin took us to a winery that she knew about that has Etruscan tunnels all underneath the store and that is where they keep their wine casks for aging.  We were able to wander all through the tunnels and see the wine casks and the cheese storage area also.  When they excavated the tunnels, they found all sorts of torture devices that they have displayed in cases in the tunnels.  After we finished going through the tunnels, we were treated to a wine and cheese tasting and just about everyone in the group purchased wine.  After the winery tour, we were free to wander the town, get some lunch and then meet back at the bus to continue our trip.

Paul and I had a lady in a shop make us a sandwich from proscuitto and porcini cheese which is a goat cheese that is very good.  They don’t put mayo or mustard on their sandwiches.  If they put anything at all on them, they will spread the bread with butter.  We took the sandwiches and drinks to eat on the bus.

We arrived in Levanto, Italy where we had to take a train to Monterosso, Italy.  Our hotel, Hotel Punta Mesco, is in Monterosso which is the first of the five towns that are linked by trails and trains. 

Karin asked us all to meet over in the older part of town after settling into our rooms.  Karin will be leaving us when we leave the Cinque Terre and she had arranged for our new guide, Jennifer, to be with us over the next two days for a smooth transition.  Jennifer and Karin met us at the Piazza Garibaldo with wine, Limon cello and pizza as a snack.  We were then free to walk around town and get some dinner.

The beaches here are extremely popular so it is pretty crowded with locals and vacationers.  One unusual feature is that the main road through town is closed off to traffic except for delivery people and the local police so it is easy to sightsee and stroll about without having to worry about being run over. 

Because Paul is having trouble with his back we decided not to join the others in our group but to go off on our own to get some dinner.  We went to a restaurant that was just around the corner from our hotel, Ristorante Miky, where we were able to get a table on the patio area where we could people watch.  We had seafood and vegetable pasta that was absolutely delicious and was presented to us in a very "showy" manner - FUN!!